Bel Ombre, Mauritius Meeting Planning Overview

Bel Ombre is a vacation spot at the extreme southern point of Mauritius. Just to its north is the Black River Gorges National Park in the Black River Mountains. Most Bel Ombre event venues are found within the vast estate of Domaine de Bel Ombre, created in 1785 and run as an agricultural and tourism concern since 1899.

Named for the first prime minister of Mauritius, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (MRU) has no direct flights from North America but has several direct ones from Europe: The airport, which is approximately 26 miles northeast of Bel Ombre, is talking about building a second runway.

There are no convention venues in Bel Ombre, but Mauritius is a relatively small island, so resort guests are 41 miles south of the Swami Vivekananda International Conference Center in Port Louis, which has a 35,000-square-foot convention hall and a 20,000-square-foot lobby for all events, among other spaces.

Like so many vacation destinations in Mauritius, the resort hotels here are excellent. Choose between the 214-room Tamassa Resort, which has two restaurants, a nightclub but no real meeting space; the 182-room Moevenpick Resort & Spa Mauritius, which has meeting space for up to 200 persons; the 158-room Heritage Le Telfair Hotel & Spa, which has seven restaurants, a spa and a golf club; the 94-room Sofitel So Mauritius, which can host events; and the 160-room Heritage Awali, a sibling of the Telfair, with which it shares many amenities.

As mentioned, most of Bel Ombre is part of Domaine de Bel Ombre, which contains hotels, restaurants, bars, private villas and leisure facilities. Here, planners are able to host events and activities in such spots as the huge, rattan-sided Cavendish Bar, with more than 100 single-malt whiskeys; Frederica Nature Reserve, for night or sun-downer safaris with all manner of luxury such as cocktails and dinners alongside fire pits, and Golf du Chateau, with a restaurant and an 18-hole golf course, amid stunning scenery.

When hungry, guests here have to head back to the hotels, where the choices are very good: La Chateau de Bel Ombre, for Mauritian cuisine in a 19th-century manor house at the aforementioned Heritage Le Telfair; the very chic Flamboyant or the La Plage, which as its names suggest is right on the beach, at the aforementioned the Sofitel So Mauritius, or Le Camaron, also on the beach and serving seafood at the Moevenpick Resort & Spa Mauritius. In the mountains that you can send behind the resorts is the La Chamarel in the Black River Mountains with 125 seats.